HISD recruits new teachers globally, finds 'goldmine' in North Carolina

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It was back to school for Houston ISD on Monday, including 39 new teachers all from North Carolina.

Brittany Emanuel is a high school English teacher at Sam Houston Math Science and Technology Center.

"I enjoy the connections I make with the students," she says. "I think more than anything, I enjoy the relationships that we build."

Emanuel is brand new to Houston and is excited about living in a bigger city after being recruited from the east coast by HISD.

She's noticed she's not the only new face on campus.

"There are people from all over -- some from other parts of Texas," Emanuel said.

As one of the largest school districts in the country, HISD has more than 12,000 teachers. This school year some 1,700 of them will be new.

Andrew Houlihan, the district's Chief Human Resources Officer tells Eyewitness News, teacher recruitment is always a challenge.

Even though Forbes recently put Texas as number two in the best states to make a living, a 2013 report by the National Education Association puts the state as 35th in average teacher salary and among the five lowest in dollars spent per student.

"Bottom line, there's always supply and demand. We're competing with hundreds of school districts that are also doing the same thing that we are," Houlihan acknowledges.

We've shown you in recent weeks, the teaching holes at Yates High School -- and the push to find Arabic speaking educators.

HISD faces the same issue as so many districts. But to talk to the teacher's union, they could make it easier on themselves.

"We have a huge teacher turnover rate here at HISD," says Andrew Dewey, a teacher and the Vice President of the Houston Federation of Teachers.

Dewey believes strict evaluations, lack of support, and higher pay in surrounding suburban districts lead to the yearly vacancies.

"A teacher will be in HISD for a year, two years, three years, learn how to teach, then figure out very quickly that they can get better working conditions and better pay in the outlying districts," said Dewey.

Houlihan counters, "We're really trying here in the coming years to be much more competitive just locally, because we certainly want to compete with our suburban districts."

Three of four new teachers come from Texas each year.

The others, like Emanuel, came here for a raise. Despite Houston being lower than suburban districts it does out pay many southern states.

Emanuel says it was a $13,000 difference for her to move here from Greensboro, North Carolina.

Another teacher, Ricky Ferguson, says he nearly doubled his salary. He too moved from the Tarheel State. He and Emanuel are two of 39 teachers HISD recruited from North Carolina during four separate recruitment fairs in the across that state this summer.

"I enjoy my job," says Ferguson, who starts as a science teacher Monday at Cesar Chavez High School. "I enjoy what I do. I'm trying to better myself and my family and Texas is where it's at."

New teachers from North Carolina represent roughly 10 percent of all new out of state teacher hires this school year.

Why is HISD targeting North Carolina teachers? The answer might lie within the walls of the State Capitol Building.

After years with no raises, earlier this month North Carolina legislators approved an increase in salary for teachers effective this year. But critics of the budget plan say it's not enough.

"I would say we are in crisis mode right now," Mark Jewell tells Eyewitness News.

Jewell is with the North Carolina Association of Educators. He says HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, who used to work with Jewell in North Carolina, knows teachers are ripe for the picking because of low pay and lack of funding.

"He is doing probably what any employer would want to do, is go and look where there is discontent and offer them something better," Jewell said.

Starting pay at HISD is roughly $49,000 a year. In North Carolina it averages $33,000. It takes a teacher there twenty five years of service to reach $49,000.

We spoke with teachers who told us they can't pay all of their bills, they feel underappreciated and demoralized. They understand why so many would be interested in leaving the state for what's perceived to be greener grass elsewhere.

But some state legislators say they are moving in the right direction and the new budget is a big part of that effort to let educators know how values they are.

"I think it's quite overstated as to any issues that we're having," says North Carolina State Representative Chris Malone.

He's on the house education committee and says the budget includes the largest raise for teachers in state history.

"A lot of things that were going south, that were in vulnerable situations are now strengthened and in the right place," said Malone.

HISD's Houlihan admits, however, North Carolina was an easy place to go amidst its global recruiting efforts.

"Given the budget discussions that were happening in that state during this past year, we knew that there were going to be teachers that were going to be leaving that were highly effective and we used that as a strategy for us," said Houlihan.

HISD admits that among its global recruiting efforts, North Carolina was an easy place to go.